The race may give fans a glimpse of what's to come in the Tour de France in July. Cavendish (HTC-Highroad) has already been confirmed for the Tour and is aiming for the green jersey. Sky has yet to announce its roster for the Tour, but Swift must be in the running after an excellent season so far.

Both riders were present at the Tour Down Under in January, but it was Swift who bagged two stage wins and third place overall as the Manxman was still in an early-season training phase.

Cavendish then won a stage of the Tour of Oman in February, and both riders took wins in April: Cavendish won the Scheldeprijs with Swift taking a stage of the Vuelta a Castilla y Leon.

Last month the two Brits continued the run of wins, Cavendish scoring two stages of the Giro d'Italia and Swift winning a stage of the Tour de Romandie and a stage in the Tour of California.

Although the start list is a who's who of world-class sprinters, flat stages are pretty scant. Only stages four, five and eight offer the definite possibility of a bunch finish. The remaining stages feature either high mountains or are individual time trials.

Along with the Critérium du Dauphiné in France, the Tour de Suisse is seen as a serious warm-up for the Tour de France in July, but is also a prestigious WorldTour-category race in its own right.

Several Tour de France contenders will use the Tour de Suisse to test their form, including Andy Schleck (Leopard-Trek), Andreas Kloden and Chris Horner (Radioshack), Ryder Hesjedal (Garmin-Cervelo) and Sylvain Chavanel (Quick Step).

The 2011 Tour de Suisse starts in Lugano on Saturday, June 11, and finishes in Schaffhausen with a 32.1km individual time trial on Sunday, June 19.